Pondering Psalm 84

But before we get to them there is a note that tells us that this Psalm is “Of the sons of Korah”. Here is a good article that will give you some background information on who the sons of Korah are. To sum up, they were doorkeepers and musicians in the court of David. Their lineage however went back hundreds of years to their ancestor Korah. Korah incited a rebellion (Numbers 16) against Moses that involved over 250 people. God had to deal with him severely (the earth swallowed him up) but some of his descendants went on to serve faithfully in the house of the Lord. As I read this account I was reminded that God can always redeem our past. It doesn’t matter what kind of a home that we have grown up in, or how bad our parents were, or what influences we had early in life – God can use us to bring Him honor and glory as we follow after Him. We are not victims of our past we are victors with a future!

1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty!2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God…

10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere;I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

These guys loved God. They loved to be in His presence. You can hear the passion oozing out of them. They were singing from the heart. Here is the question that I have to ask myself: When I am in the “court of the Lord” and singing with the community of believers, do I sing to Him with this kind of passion? Or do I just go through the motions of singing but my heart is far from God? Does my “heart and flesh cry out for the living God?” Would I rather be in God’s presence than anywhere else? Than at my favorite Sunday restaurant? Than home watching the NFL pre-game show? Than on the golf course? Than taking a nap? Need to move on before too much conviction sets in…

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs…7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.

We are sojourners. Not of this world. Journeying through this world on our way to another place. A better place. A holy place. Our hearts MUST be set on that place if we are going to make sense of this place. We must keep our focus on the future if we want to thrive in the present. Otherwise the best we can hope for is to make it through this world in survival mode. But in God we find our strength. And even when we go through those dark and desperate valley times we can still “make it a place of springs.” We can still see the hand of God. We can still find hope when those without Christ would be hopeless. We can still see the goodness of God “though the darkness hide thee.”

And we can draw strength to continue our pilgrimage in Him. In the valleys we find strength. On the mountaintops we find strength. On the long and winding road we find our strength in Him. We “go from strength to strength” until one day we find ourselves in the strong arms of the One who stretched out His arms on the cross and secured our salvation and procured for us an eternal home in the Heavenly Zion.